Tianrui Group Cement Eyes US$500m IPO
Tianrui Group Cement Co, in which US private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) has a minority stake, plans to raise up to US$500m in a Hong Kong initial public offering (IP0) in the second half of the year, people familiar with the situation said Tuesday.
The deal by Tianrui, which is taking advantage of rising cement prices in China, comes as the list of IPOs preparing to list in Hong Kong continues to grow, with Newton Resources Ltd. planning to raise between US$300m and US$350m in coming weeks, and Haitong Securities Co and Chinese retailer China Outfitters Holdings Ltd hiring bankers to underwrite IPOs planned for later this year.
While it wasn’t immediately clear how much KKR would sell, Tianrui’s mooted IPO would also be the latest example of a private equity company exiting all or part of its stake in companies they bought into ahead of the financial crisis. Hong Kong shares are up 2.8% so far this year, but since October 2008, when the financial crisis hit a peak, they are up 115%.
Published under Cement News
